Gustavo Castillo Garcia
The newspaper La Jornada
Friday, July 26, 2024, p. 7
Ishmael The May Zambada García was the last of the old guard of Mexican drug trafficking who had not been arrested. His former partners, with whom he forged a generation of criminal groups, languished in prison or died.
This is what happened with Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Mr. Netoand Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, founders of the Guadalajara cartel. Or with Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who died in 1997, head of the Juarez cartel. In 2001, after Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Loera escaped from the maximum security prison of Puente Grande, in Jalisco, and became his collaborator in the Sinaloa cartel.
Zambada was born on January 1, 1948 in the community of El Álamo, Sinaloa. In 2001 he became the second in command of the Sinaloa Cartel.
After the second arrest of El Chapo In February 2014, the criminal organization was not dismantled. Information from the security cabinet indicates that The May He maintained control of the organization and shared leadership mainly with Guzmán Loera’s sons.
El Chapo He spent 17 months in prison at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1, Altiplano, in the municipality of Almoloya de Juárez, and in July 2015 he escaped again.
Investigations by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office indicate that the support of The May Zambada’s escape plan for Guzmán Loera worked perfectly, as did the logistics and operations to control the security personnel and the video surveillance operations center in Altiplano.
The May Zambada was one of the most wanted criminals by the Mexican government. There was even a reward of 30 million pesos in exchange for information leading to his arrest.
Following Guzmán Loera’s extradition to the United States in January 2017, the Sinaloa cartel split into three fronts: one led by Ismael Zambada. The second, led by Aureliano Guzmán Loera, The Guanobrother of El Chapoand third in command of the brothers Iván and Alfredo Guzmán Salazar.
In 2017, the Sinaloa organization experienced internal confrontations because Dámaso López Núñez (Graduate) and his son Damaso Lopez Serrano (The Minilic), attempted to seize control of the cartel from both Zambada and The Chapitosas Guzmán Loera’s children are known.
But the Lopez family failed in their attempt. Both are in the United States. The father is in prison and The Minilic He turned himself in to US authorities and agreed to be a cooperating witness.
The Sinaloa cartel has a presence in Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Coahuila, Baja California, Baja California Sur and Sonora; it operates with criminal cells identified as New people, The Cabrerasthe Poniente or La Laguna cartel, The Achilles, The Tiger, From the 28th, The Killer Artists, The Mexicles, The Salazars and The Memosaccording to reports from the Attorney General’s Office.
